KEANNA MACINNES spoke of the surreal experience as she featured at her first ever Olympic Games.
The Tillicoultry-based swimmer was selected for the Team GB squads at Paris 2024 in what would be her debut appearance at the world’s biggest sporting event.
Specialising in 100m and 200m butterfly, Keanna made it to the semi-final stage in one event and grabbed a 9th place finish in the other.
She spoke with the Advertiser to discuss her experiences at the Games, from selection to the competition itself.
Her journey began during the qualification events, wherein she had to win her race to near guarantee a spot in Paris.
Keanna beat off the rest of the competition to finish in top position, which she described as an emotional moment as she knew internally that she had secured her place at the Olympics.
She said: “At the time, I had won my event so I was pretty certain I’d be on the time but we didn’t find out until a few weeks after that.
“For me, after I finished my race that was the most emotional bit. Knowing the way qualification worked, I knew i was going.
“It was nice being able to share that confirmation with all my friends and family properly once it was fully announced.”
When the official squads were released, Keanna was able to share the moment with her friends and family.
The 23-year-old reflected on that moment the list came out and she knew that she was heading to the Olympic Games.
“I was quite overwhelmed,” Keanna said. “I was quite teary because I had been training for this my whole life.
“I was so happy but I was also wobbly lipped trying to hold back the tears. Going round to share that with my coach was a big moment.
“I’d been working with him for six years so it was good to share that with him.”
Born in Edinburgh, Keanna now lives in Tillicoultry and is a part of the University of Stirling’s renowned swim team.
While Paris 2024 was her first Olympic Games, she had won gold in the 100m and 200m butterfly events at the inaugural under-23 European Championships in Dublin last year.
She also picked up a silver medal in the mixed 4x400m medley in Dublin, securing her status as a British Champion.
Taking up swimming from a young age, Keanna also did diving and other sports but gave them up to focus on remaining injury free for swimming.
“I started competitively swimming since I was 9 or 10,” she went on. “I was quite good as a child age and I was breaking Scottish age group records from around 11 years old.
“When I was 14, I stopped my other sports to avoid injury and focus on swimming and it was what I was doing best at.”
Arriving at the games, Keanna reached the semi-finals of the 100m fly, which came as a surprise to her as this was her backup race.
Since this was not the type of race she specialised in, Keanna spoke of having the pressure off, allowing her to focus on enjoying herself.
She continued: “One of my favourite moments was the semi-final of the 100m fly because I had no pressure on it.
“It was unlikely that I would progress through to the final so I could just soak up the atmosphere.
“In the 200m fly, I came ninth and I was a little bit heartbroken about that. But yeah for my first games, this is my first time on the world stage.
“I can’t complain but I was a bit discouraged not to reach that final.”
Despite feeling disappointed about the 200m fly race, Keanna was delighted to reach the Games and have the chance to compete.
An outbreak of Covid at the Games would not dampen her spirit either, with Keanna already looking ahead to qualifying for Los Angeles 2028.
She added: “I’ve been racing internationally for a long time but it’s good to have that experience at the Games.
“It’s a whole different scenario when you’re racing everyone faster. From the Games, I’d take some tactical decisions on how to progress through the rounds into the final.
“This does make me keen to go onto Los Angeles and qualify for another one because this is the only time you get that big public exposure and huge crowds.
“Britain is so competitive for swimming so qualifying for the team is almost scarier than racing at the Games.
“You’ve trained for years of your life for this and making the team is so competitive so i was definitely more nervous for qualification.
“I am pleased with how I did and it makes me want to go on and do better next time.”
Keanna returned with to the University of Stirling with the rest of the swimming contingent, receiving a guard of honour on campus.
She is now putting her head down again to begin her training for the trials for World Championships, being held in April.
“It was surreal,” Keanna added. “I got the Olympic ring tattooed on my wrist. I keep seeing it and thinking it’s so cool.
“It is quite bizarre that it’s been and gone. It was such a big thing but now the focus is just working on the next one to get to LA.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here